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Chris Wesseling

The Morning After

Motown Magic

Change happens quickly in the NFL. After rushing for nearly 1,000 yards as a rookie in 2008, Kevin Smith’s career was waylaid by a rash of knee, shoulder and thumb injuries. The Lions used first-and second-round picks on running back replacements in back-to-back years, not even bothering to tender Smith an offer as a restricted free agent last March.

The entire summer and nine weeks of the regular season went by without Smith’s phone ringing until the desperate Lions brought him in along with 24 other players for a bye-week workout. Smith got Rotoworld’s attention when coach Jim Schwartz made it clear that the team had no plans to sign him, only doing so because he looked too good to pass up. That didn’t happen by over-night accident. Smith describes his routine the past few months as "Wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning, train 'til 12, go home and play with my son, go to sleep, wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning, train 'til 12, go home and play with my son." Personal trainer Pete Bommarito, who labeled Sunday’s 201-yard, three-touchdown breakout game his own personal Super Bowl, noted that Smith recently turned in a 4.48 forty-yard dash -- faster than his Combine time before the 2008 NFL draft.

Against eight Panthers in the box, Smith proved definitively that he wasn’t washed up, showing impressive acceleration, change-of-direction, lateral agility, and three-down skills on his way to a career-high 140 rushing yards and three scores. The obvious caveat is that Carolina’s rookie defensive tackles and injury-ravaged linebacker corps made even Chris Johnson look passable a week ago. Anyone who watched Smith, however, couldn’t help coming away with the impression that he’s as healthy, fresh, and explosive as he’s ever been. Hall of Famer Barry Sanders is the only other Lions back since 1960 with a higher single-game average than Smith's 8.8 yards per carry. Earning the feature-back role for as long as Jahvid Best is out, Smith has carved out a substantial role in a high-scoring offense.

"There’s a lot of great stories in the NFL, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a better story than Kevin Smith,” Schwartz said after the game. “Obviously he has a lot of talent. He was set back earlier in his career with a lot of major injuries. With the lockout this year and short training camps and stuff like that it was a difficult situation for him to come back.”

Smith’s emergence as a viable running threat was just the elixir Matthew Stafford needed to end his malaise. After throwing picks on his first two possessions, Stafford caught fire over the final three quarters, becoming the first quarterback of the Super Bowl era with two games of least five touchdown passes through his first 23 career starts. The Lions outscored Carolina 35-8 in the second half, increasing their season total to 191-74 after haltime on the season while becoming the first team in NFL history to win three games in which it trailed by 17+ points.

“We got hot,” Schwartz said. “In the second half, on offense, we went touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. I mean, are you serious? When we were on defense, they went eight yards and punt, six yards and punt, interception, four yards and punt, touchdown, interception, interception. That’s hot right there – that’s the definition of hot.”

Game Balls

Jordy Nelson - The only Packers receiver producing early in the game, Nelson entered halftime with five catches for 83 yards and one touchdown before Aaron Rodgers found him in stride for a 40-yard score in the fourth quarter. Now that he’s passed Greg Jennings as fantasy’s No. 3 wide receiver, opponents may no longer underestimate him due to his skin color. Nelson is on pace for 64 receptions, 1,210 yards, and 14 touchdowns in a breakout season, proving that his Super Bowl performance was no fluke.

Rodgers is now the first quarterback in NFL history with a passer rating over 100 in 10 consecutive games in a single season. He’s just the third QB in history to throw for at least 30 touchdowns total through 10 games and the fifth ever to throw at least two touchdowns per in each of team's first 10 games of season. The Packers are the third defending Super Bowl champions to start the season 10-0, joining the 1998 Broncos and the 1990 49ers. It’s the third time in franchise history (1929, 1962) that Green Bay has reached the 10-0 mark, and they won NFL championship in both of those seasons.

Matt Moore - Chad Henne’s replacement hastwo of the five highest-rated games of the season, according to ESPN’s Total QBR metric. The Sporting News’ Russ Lande, who ranked Moore as the No. 1 free agent QB last offseason, can afford to do a little gloating this week. Over the last three weeks, Miami has outscored opponents 86-20 while “the new Kyle Orton” has completed 51-of-73 passes (69.8 percent) for 613 yards (8.39 YPA) with a 6:1 TD-to-INT ratio. Moore is making a case to start under center next season, but he’s still just a mediocre QB2 option in the Dolphins’ conservative offense.

Vincent Jackson - Bears CB Charles Tillman spent the week as the subject of accolades and Pro Bowl mentions after his best game of the season against Calvin Johnson and the Lions. Peanut had no answer for V-Jax one-on-one on the outside, as the Chargers deep threat pulled down four throws of over 20 yards. A one-man gang at Chicago, Jackson accounted for more than half of Philip Rivers’ 280 passing yards. Though inconsistent, V-Jax is now sixth in fantasy points at wide receiver.

Roddy White - It’s not like he’s Chris Johnson, but White was one of the biggest disappointments in the league at the half-season mark, dropping passes while being outplayed by Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez. White hauled in seven of 14 targets Sunday, taking advantage of Jones’ absence for a season-high 147 yards. It was his 25th career game with 100 yards receiving, the most in Falcons history.

Ravens OC Cam Cameron made it clear that Rice would be the focal point of the offense going forward after under-utilizing his best player the previous two weeks. Now fantasy’s No. 2 back, Rice responded with his third 100-yard rushing game and and third multiple touchdown game of the season against the Bengals. "I know if Ray Rice is touching the ball, I know we have a chance to win,'' safety Ed Reed said. "You've got to run the ball to win."

Change happens quickly in the NFL. After rushing for nearly 1,000 yards as a rookie in 2008, Kevin Smith’s career was waylaid by a rash of knee, shoulder and thumb injuries. The Lions used first-and second-round picks on running back replacements in back-to-back years, not even bothering to tender Smith an offer as a restricted free agent last March.

The entire summer and nine weeks of the regular season went by without Smith’s phone ringing until the desperate Lions brought him in along with 24 other players for a bye-week workout. Smith got Rotoworld’s attention when coach Jim Schwartz made it clear that the team had no plans to sign him, only doing so because he looked too good to pass up. That didn’t happen by over-night accident. Smith describes his routine the past few months as "Wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning, train 'til 12, go home and play with my son, go to sleep, wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning, train 'til 12, go home and play with my son." Personal trainer Pete Bommarito, who labeled Sunday’s 201-yard, three-touchdown breakout game his own personal Super Bowl, noted that Smith recently turned in a 4.48 forty-yard dash -- faster than his Combine time before the 2008 NFL draft.

Against eight Panthers in the box, Smith proved definitively that he wasn’t washed up, showing impressive acceleration, change-of-direction, lateral agility, and three-down skills on his way to a career-high 140 rushing yards and three scores. The obvious caveat is that Carolina’s rookie defensive tackles and injury-ravaged linebacker corps made even Chris Johnson look passable a week ago. Anyone who watched Smith, however, couldn’t help coming away with the impression that he’s as healthy, fresh, and explosive as he’s ever been. Hall of Famer Barry Sanders is the only other Lions back since 1960 with a higher single-game average than Smith's 8.8 yards per carry. Earning the feature-back role for as long as Jahvid Best is out, Smith has carved out a substantial role in a high-scoring offense.

"There’s a lot of great stories in the NFL, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a better story than Kevin Smith,” Schwartz said after the game. “Obviously he has a lot of talent. He was set back earlier in his career with a lot of major injuries. With the lockout this year and short training camps and stuff like that it was a difficult situation for him to come back.”

Smith’s emergence as a viable running threat was just the elixir Matthew Stafford needed to end his malaise. After throwing picks on his first two possessions, Stafford caught fire over the final three quarters, becoming the first quarterback of the Super Bowl era with two games of least five touchdown passes through his first 23 career starts. The Lions outscored Carolina 35-8 in the second half, increasing their season total to 191-74 after haltime on the season while becoming the first team in NFL history to win three games in which it trailed by 17+ points.

“We got hot,” Schwartz said. “In the second half, on offense, we went touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. I mean, are you serious? When we were on defense, they went eight yards and punt, six yards and punt, interception, four yards and punt, touchdown, interception, interception. That’s hot right there – that’s the definition of hot.”

Game Balls

Jordy Nelson - The only Packers receiver producing early in the game, Nelson entered halftime with five catches for 83 yards and one touchdown before Aaron Rodgers found him in stride for a 40-yard score in the fourth quarter. Now that he’s passed Greg Jennings as fantasy’s No. 3 wide receiver, opponents may no longer underestimate him due to his skin color. Nelson is on pace for 64 receptions, 1,210 yards, and 14 touchdowns in a breakout season, proving that his Super Bowl performance was no fluke.

Rodgers is now the first quarterback in NFL history with a passer rating over 100 in 10 consecutive games in a single season. He’s just the third QB in history to throw for at least 30 touchdowns total through 10 games and the fifth ever to throw at least two touchdowns per in each of team's first 10 games of season. The Packers are the third defending Super Bowl champions to start the season 10-0, joining the 1998 Broncos and the 1990 49ers. It’s the third time in franchise history (1929, 1962) that Green Bay has reached the 10-0 mark, and they won NFL championship in both of those seasons.

Matt Moore - Chad Henne’s replacement hastwo of the five highest-rated games of the season, according to ESPN’s Total QBR metric. The Sporting News’ Russ Lande, who ranked Moore as the No. 1 free agent QB last offseason, can afford to do a little gloating this week. Over the last three weeks, Miami has outscored opponents 86-20 while “the new Kyle Orton” has completed 51-of-73 passes (69.8 percent) for 613 yards (8.39 YPA) with a 6:1 TD-to-INT ratio. Moore is making a case to start under center next season, but he’s still just a mediocre QB2 option in the Dolphins’ conservative offense.

Vincent Jackson - Bears CB Charles Tillman spent the week as the subject of accolades and Pro Bowl mentions after his best game of the season against Calvin Johnson and the Lions. Peanut had no answer for V-Jax one-on-one on the outside, as the Chargers deep threat pulled down four throws of over 20 yards. A one-man gang at Chicago, Jackson accounted for more than half of Philip Rivers’ 280 passing yards. Though inconsistent, V-Jax is now sixth in fantasy points at wide receiver.

Roddy White - It’s not like he’s Chris Johnson, but White was one of the biggest disappointments in the league at the half-season mark, dropping passes while being outplayed by Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez. White hauled in seven of 14 targets Sunday, taking advantage of Jones’ absence for a season-high 147 yards. It was his 25th career game with 100 yards receiving, the most in Falcons history.

Ravens OC Cam Cameron made it clear that Rice would be the focal point of the offense going forward after under-utilizing his best player the previous two weeks. Now fantasy’s No. 2 back, Rice responded with his third 100-yard rushing game and and third multiple touchdown game of the season against the Bengals. "I know if Ray Rice is touching the ball, I know we have a chance to win,'' safety Ed Reed said. "You've got to run the ball to win."

Harbaugh Bowl

This year’s Thanksgiving slate is the most attractive in recent history, featuring six teams all coming off victories in Week 11. The undefeated defending champion Packers travel to Detroit for the first meaningful Turkey Day game in Motown in over a decade. In fact, it was just a few years ago that national writers began pushing for the winless Lions to lose their monopoly on the Thanksgiving tradition. The suddenly red hot Dolphins are at new NFC East favorite Dallas in the middle game. The nightcap features first place San Francisco at first place Baltimore with the two Harbaugh brothers combining for a 16-4 record. “Believe me, when the schedule came out, I know Coach [John] Harbaugh circled this one right away,” said Joe Flacco. “This is a must-win for him, which makes it a must-win for us.”

Sitting Starters, Take 2

In last week’s article, I touched on premature speculation that the Packers may sit their starters the final two games if they remain undefeated by Christmas time. The bottom is that nobody knows; it’s too early to make firm plans based merely on the possibility. I did find it interesting that the estimable Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel weighed in on the subject in his weekly podcast with SI.com’s Peter King. McGinn believes fantasy owners have nothing to worry about for Chicago at home on Christmas night or Detroit at home on New Year’s Day.

“They remember what Lovie Smith did to them in the regular season finale last year. Lovie didn’t need it for anything and he played it to the hilt, tried to knock the Packers out, played it for the rivalry. It was a great moment for Lovie Smith and the Bears and they almost won that game,” explains McGinn. “I think McCarthy will play it. There’s been some examples in which … McCarthy has played hard with starters for long stretches late in the season. And with those two rivals, that’s what the league wants, to avoid these mail-in games. With those two division games, I’m pretty sure he’ll play it extremely hard.”

The Bolts entered the game planning to increase Mathews’ role, but the same old problems reared their head. Mathews was stripped by Peanut Tillman, the patchwork offensive line couldn’t open holes, and coach Norv Turner abandoned the run in second-half comeback mode. You can still expect Tolbert to be limited to short-yardage and passing-down work against the Broncos in Week 12.

The Panthers certainly can’t blame the backfield for their 49-35 loss at Detroit. For the first time this season, both backs went over 100 scrimmage yards. Williams showed as much explosion as he had all season, and Stewart continues to look like one of the best players on the field whenever he gets his hands on the ball. Because Stewart is more heavily involved in the passing game, he remains a better fantasy bet than Williams.

Both backs saw the same number of carries, but that’s misleading. Bush is the feature back -- including goal-line work once again -- and Thomas continues to salt away big leads in the second half. Though Bush can’t be expected to stay healthy and productive, he’s firmly in RB2 territory heading into Week 12 at Dallas.

Neither back had much success on the ground, but Starks had the most productive receiving game of his young career before leaving late in the fourth quarter with a knee sprain. His status is up in the air with the short turnaround before the Throwdown in Motown on Thanksgiving. Grant is worthy of a pickup this week, but keep expectations low. John Kuhn and even B.J. Raji vultured short touchdowns against the Bucs, and this remains a pass-dominant offense.

If you did your job as well as Mike Shanahan has since taking over in Washington, you’d be fired immediately if not sooner. Shanny’s backfield is a blatant mess, with all three backs seeing equivalent workloads. Helu remains the most productive on a weekly basis, though he can’t be trusted at Seattle in Week 12.

Quote of the Week:Aaron Rodgers on television analysts as professional contrarians, specifically ESPN's Skip Bayless: “I just think it just goes to the point that you can’t take a whole lot of what those people say too personally because they’re shock experts on ESPN and NFL Network. A lot of them are just going for the shock value of what they’re saying, as is typified by that guy on ESPN, I don’t want to even say his name. He works for ‘First Take’…All he does is say things that are so ridiculous just for the shock value.”

Runner-Up: Broncos coach John Fox on accusations that he and football czar John Elway are rooting for Tim Tebow to fail so they can draft their own hand-selected QB in 2012: “It doesn't make much sense. It would be like buying a Ferrari and pouring sugar in the gas tank."

Runner-Up: From Matt Mosley of Fox Sports Southwest: “That was the most exciting horrible throw I've seen in quite some time. Tebow's completions are like soccer goals in extra time of 0-0 tie.”

Second Runner-Up: From CSN Philly’s Reuben Frank during the Eagles’ practice week: “A cockroach just wandered into the media room at the Eagles' NovaCare Complex. @MikeSielskiWSJ commented: ‘Now, there's a metaphor.’”

Chris Wesseling is a senior football editor and Dynasty league analyst for Rotoworld.com. The 2011 NFL season marks his fifth year with Rotoworld and his third year contributing to NBCSports.com. He can be found on Twitter @ChrisWesseling.Email :Chris Wesseling